What Can We Expect from "The Vampire Diaries"?
Here is some insight into what to expect from the seriesThe Vampire Diaries (premiere date: Sep. 10, 2009 on The CW). Two things are clear from the interviews the writers and crew have done so far: first, the people working on the show are focusing on the conflict between Stefan and Damon, with the Elena-Stefan relationship acting as a catalyst; and second, they're really tired of comparisons to Twilight.
On the Inspiration to Do the Show
Kevin Williamson (writer/producer): She [Julie Plec] said, "You want to do this?" and I said "Sure, let's do it." "Okay, I'll do it if you do it."
This is so much more than "a girl falls in love with a vampire." Where L.J. Smith, the novelist, took it different is that there's a whole mythology. The thing with vampires is, it all comes down to the twist in their mythology. Is it garlic, is it crucifixes, can you stake 'em, can you kill 'em? Can they walk in sunlight? There's so many different vampires, ways a vampire can go, and we kind of dug this one. (source)
On Comparisons to Twilight
Kevin Williamson (writer/producer): In the beginning when I read it, I didn't want to be involved with it, because I felt like it was sort of a Twilight rip-off, no matter what came first. The premise was the same: girl falls in love with a vampire. But Julie kept saying, "Keep reading, keep reading!"
And then you realize that this is [much more] a story about a small town, about the underbelly of a small town, and what lurks under the surface.
(source)
Julie Plec (writer/producer): The comparisons are difficult only in that you never want anyone accusing you of ripping something off. But because we have the source material that pre-dates Twilight so significantly [the first Vampire Diaries book came out 14 years before the first Twilight book], we feel confident that the story we're telling is our own. But there is going to be a lot of that. (source)
Katerina Graham (Bonnie): The storyline is really different. And of course, on the surface, even True Blood had some comparisons to Twilight. Anything that has to do with a vampire falling in love, anything that has to do with a girl going someplace that's completely forbidden or where she shouldn't be would be compared to Twilight. Thank God that Twilight was successful, because you'd hate to be compared to something that was a total flop. It's totally different. The storyline is absolutely, completely [different] from Twilight. L.J. Smith, who is the writer of the books that the show is based on, wrote these books years before Twilight was even done, and True Blood. The only similarities between Twilight and Vampire Diaries are that she falls in love with a vampire. (source)
On Vampire Diaries Being a "CW" Kind of Show
Kevin Williamson: It's also different from the Buffy and Smallville and Supernatural model in that they're sort of monster-of-the-week shows, and we're not that. This is actually closer to Gossip Girl than that. In the sense that it's a serialized ensemble teen soap with a supernatural element. It's more about characters and romance.
On Elena
Nina Dobrev (Elena): I think that she has a relatability and an innocence, and something that really gives her somewhere to go. She's a real person. She has problems, she's hurting and she falls in love, and the relationship is complicated, just like every relationship is. And then, you find out, on top of everything, it's not an average relationship that's complicated to begin with, but he's also a vampire, so there's another little bump in the road.
I think that Elena has a lot of myself. I feel like I'm a lot like my character, in that sense. But, she has to be innocent. I know that's one thing that's different, in the books. In the book, Elena is a very different character, but we really wanted somebody that had a vulnerability and a relatability, and who looks for the good in everyone. And, although things aren't good right now because she is in a tough place, where she has lost her parents and her brother is going on a downward spiral, but she's still trying to find the good in everyone and fix things and be optimistic. She's trying to cope. (source)
On the Appeal of Vampire Romance
Paul Wesley: They're timeless, and sexy and dangerous, and there's a level of protectiveness and also this imminent threat, and I think that paradox always is kind of intriguing. My character, he's the good guy -- but there's a dark side. For sure, there's a dark side. (source)
Julie Plec: For me, in a weird way, it's less about vampires than it is about love. And when you're telling a love story, the great love stories of all time are always about people who are attracted who are polar opposites. It's about, "Who is that person who caught my eye across the room, and what is it about that person, why do they seem so different and why do I find myself so drawn to them? What is it about them that fills me up from the inside?" (source )
Ian Somerhalder: A very big element of it is that Twilight did so well at the box office. But, and this is just completely subjective conjecture, in the last five years, the movie industry, especially with strikes and all these things, has started to fall off the map. It's these big, huge movies, like Iron Man and Batman, that are big comic book series films, that are making these studios all this cash, and the other movies have just fallen to the wayside. The mythology behind vampires was always there, and it's never really gone away, but now you have this market for it. They're fun. There's an element of power. They're sexy, they're dangerous, they're beautiful and there is something that draws you to them. There is something about the non-human of it all, which allows these characters to do things that we can't do, and there's a lot of escapism in that. (source)
Sara Canning (Aunt Jenna): There is a lot of hype around vampires right now. The way I see it, there's always been intrigue surroundings vampires -- maybe we're going through a phase as an audience, finding such appeal and romance in wishing the imaginative into reality. When it comes to my work as an actor, that's just fun. It makes for a good story. (source)